Get off your high horse...

I've had several authors email me asking me to write this. I didn't want to write one, but I feel one must need to be written.

Yes, we want to see our books out there not last week, but of like last year. (Considering when writing this post, wasn't that long ago)

We all value our friends. If we are any excuse for a human being. Most of us are. However, there are some that are not.

You enter a grocery store and do your shopping. You finish gathering what you need to gather and look at which line is the shortest. Well, the real world is and isn't like that. You may find a line that has a couple of people in front of you with large shopping carts filled with food. You may have only thirty or so items. The person may be nice and let you go in front of them. Or, they may not. If they don't, yeah, we're all guilty, because you would let them go ahead. Though, remember, not everyone is nice. You don't know the reason for why they don't let you go first. They may have to get home and pick up their kid, or whatever the excuse may be.

Lets move on. So, the person isn't letting you pass them. Do NOT throw a fit. It's immature, childish, and makes the rest of us human beings look bad. You are an example on how your parents raised you. If I saw that, my first thought would be, "Damn, I feel sorry for the parents." Then I would think, "Did these parents teach this kid any manners?" And, I don't care how old you are.

The author world is about the same way. Unless you are paying someone more money than the next for "rush delivery" wait in line and they will get to you when they can. If they are taking too long for your "taste" find a new line. It's that simple! The more you aggravate the person you want to help, the less likely they'll do anything for you in the future. (See the Burning Bridges blog)

Same with editing. Unless you are friend/friend with your editor, your/the editor will get to it when they've finished the work in front of them.

Lets look at another example. You're standing in line at McDonald's. Do you push your way through to get to the front of the line. Trust me I know, it's annoying when people can't make up their mind. They have screaming kids that won't shut up. I know! How would it make you feel if you were next in line and the cashier took the lady with the screaming kids BEFORE you just to have them shut up? You'd be pretty pissed.

Bad mouthing others only makes yourself look bad. No one is gonna want to do business with you because they don't want to be bad mouthed over something so stupid.

This goes for not only authors, but every day people. If you constantly harass or bug someone, they're not gonna want to deal with you. When you continuously bad mouth someone, again, it's a reflection on you. No one is going to take you serious if and when there is a jerk out there. They'll see you as a trouble maker with no life.

Be honest, here, it's the internet. If you're reading this, you have no life at the moment. Just like I have no life when I wrote it.

Also, lets be honest again, people will come to another to vent. It's human nature. Whatever. The fact is they're keeping it on the down low. Unlike me, to where if I get enough, I'll blog about it. I know there is more than one person out there feeling the same way. I know this because they come to me to vent.

Get off your high horse and travel down to reality. It's actually quite lovely when you shut your effin mouth and play by the rules. The higher you are on your horse, the less likely you are to see reality. As much fun as that sounds, trust me, you make your life more drama than it should be.

The more patient you are, the more likely someone is going to take time on what you want done. Please don't ask me to recall times, dates, or people. In the U.S.'s Civil War, there was a slave who was a sharp shooter. The trainer, (I don't know what they were called back in the day - we're not here for a history lesson) Well, we are, but not that version. Anyways, the trainer ragged him every time he was about to shoot, causing him to miss. You may think that's mean? There's a point to the trainer nagging him. So the slave could tune out his surroundings and be able to shoot, no matter what was going on.

There's your history lesson.

The opposite applies to this subject. The more you nag, the less likely you will have anything accomplished that you want. I don't nag my editor. I don't nag my illustrator. I don't nag my freelancer. People do have lives and aren't available to you any time you want. Especially if they're doing it for free or low cost. Be grateful! Damn, because you know what? My freelancer always asks about a person that's wanting her services. If your name is on my list of not to deal with, I let her know. That's why she has a very selective client base. She doesn't deal with idiotic people.